Fixture gift: Cornes and Edmund assess Collingwood's 2027 hopes

David King thinks the AFL want Collingwood to be good based on the 2027 fixture they received.

After making the Wildcard final in 2026, the Magpies have been gifted the fourth-easiest fixture in 2027 with double-ups against Richmond, Essendon, Carlton, St Kilda, Fremantle and Brisbane. They also only leave Melbourne six times, including Gather Round.

King made his claim on Fox Footy following Thursday's fixture release, while adding that he's unsure whether the Magpies will deliver in their raft of primetime games.

SEN Breakfast's Kane Cornes and Sam Edmund hopped on the back of King's comments and had their own say on the Magpies' 2027 hopes.

Edmund is bullish on what Collingwood can do with their off-season additions and fixture difficulty, while Cornes isn't as sold on Craig McRae's side from a win-loss perspective.

Cornes: "Kingy was strong on Collingwood. He thinks that the AFL want them to be good."

Edmund: "He said it might be a big mistake, the faith the AFL has shown in Collingwood when it comes to some of these commercially lucrative time slots, but they're Collingwood."

Cornes: "There's no evidence to suggest that they won't be at least competitive.

"For everything that is wrong with their list, and for the flawed strategy that they are going with, you cannot question their competitiveness, their effort, their coaching, the fact that they bring eyeballs and that they're always in games.

"I'm not as critical. If I'm doing a Thursday night game and I see Collingwood playing such and such, I go, 'Okay, well, this can be good'."

Edmund: "Lachie Neale comes in, and if Jesse Hogan plays, they have to be better, don't they?

"Beau McCreery, I like what we saw him around the ball late in the season as well. I'm aboard Collingwood. I think they play finals for sure."

Cornes: "Where do you have them finishing?"

Edmund: "I reckon they finish 6th."

Cornes: "A good team's going to have to miss out then if Collingwood are in your 10."

Edmund: "They're in my 10. How many wins for you with Collingwood?"

Cornes: "11."

Edmund: "11? They got 52 points in 2026. They won 12, lost nine and had a pair of draws."

The Magpies kick off their campaign with a Round 1 clash against St Kilda at the MCG on March 20.